Captain’s Corner: Tanner MacIvor ’16

I started as a baseball player, but my hometown Niscayuna is really into lacrosse. The town is near Unity College, which is close to Albany. So I realized that everyone seemed to be leaving baseball to play lacrosse and I realized that it was way more fun. It’s definitely way more fun than baseball to watch. I ended up switching just before seventh grade. I decided to play lacrosse and never really looked back after that.

What was your experience playing in high school?

When I was a senior, my team was actually eighth in the nation for high school teams. It was pretty much the only sport we were good at. It was really fun because we had great coaches and a lot of really great kids on the team. A lot of people went on to play Division I lacrosse and were recruited to a lot of big name schools. We would always go on to the state run, which would make the season last a little longer. It was a lot of fun.

Were you recruited to play at Williams? What led you here?

So, I was actually originally looking at a lot of NESCAC schools. Originally, I thought I was going to Amherst, but thankfully that didn’t happen, and I met Coach McCormack, who was just so great throughout the process. I went to visit Williams, fell in love with the campus, and it was easy from there.

What was the recruiting process like?

For me, it was definitely interesting, because my coach really pushed most people to Div. I. So I would say that out of 11 people graduating from the team, eight went to schools that played in Division I. So I got into the process pretty early compared to the usual time frame for Division III recruiting. I realized that I didn’t really want to go to a bigger school. I began to look at the NESCAC and I really really liked it. I began to learn more about Division III sports and realized that they were still very competitive. After going through all of the different Division III and NESCAC schools, I found Williams. It was an awesome fit.

What have been some of your favorite memories on the lacrosse team?

So, the first memory that comes up is that sophomore year we didn’t have a field. [Laughs.] So that was one of the closest teams I’ve ever been on because you had to travel 45 minutes on a bus there and back every single day. We were fortunate enough to get coach buses, which was very much in the air at the time. Doing homework through the mountains was kinda tough so we resorted to hanging out more than doing work. That was a crazy whirlwind season. Second memory was that same year, my sophomore season, we beat Tufts, who actually went on to win the national championship. So that year we had a really tight team and we knew we had a ton of potential and we showed it in that game. Unfortunately, we didn’t win the National Championship, but that was still a really awesome win for us. A lot of the things that pop up when I think about the team are the wins we had that season, and the fact that we were just with each other all the time [due to the field situation].

What is it like being a captain this year?

To be honest, our team is really close, and it’s been more fun than hard. We have three other great captains on the team: Peter, Boss [Brendan Bossidy] , and then Ryan Hamilton. And then having all four of us along with the rest of the senior class, which is at 9 I think right now. The senior class has been awesome so it’s been really fun to go out there and play every game.

What are your thoughts about the rest of the season?

The team this year has a ton of potential with a lot of talented people contributing. We’re looking forward to competing through the rest of the regular seasonand also in the postseason tournaments.

What’s your go-to snack bar order?

I live off-campus now, so I haven’t ordered snack bar for so long. Freshman year, I would get a large pizza and nachos and split it with a friend, but then I transitioned a little bit into the Lee’s snack bar scene.